For me, not just new ventures. I’ve been buying plenty of Burgundies which have a track record of aging well but for which I have no experience. I make sure to taste them as well. I do the same with the U.S. wines and I’ve made lots of decisions to keep or stop buying based on those tastings. Once I’m comfortable with the producer I may buy and cellar without drinking any young.
And that makes sense to me as well
Yes. Early on with Rhys I found it very important to have our new release dinners to get a feel for the wines and the different vineyards. Nowadays I’ve narrowed down the ones I like and don’t feel any particular need to open them on arrival.
Of course they sometimes fall victim to the last in first out algorithm of wine storage…
LIFO inventory management gets me all the time. I drink way more young wine than I really want to.
David is a great contributor to this forum and I learn a lot from his notes (we seen to be drinking some similar stuff) but this question kind of doesn’t make sense to me
More than half of my cellar is wines from makers, regions, grapes, and styles from all around the world that I have never tasted. I have not the slightest concern about this. They were all bought based on reputation alone, most on release but some from back vintages at auction. I follow CT and some professional critics to gauge when might be a good time to open them and view each as an opportunity to advance my understanding and palate. I’ve only been at this a few years and don’t go to tastings or wineries much Opening a bottle at home and getting to know it over a few days with my wife and friends is for me a great pleasure. I have no fear of disappointment (though it happens of course) because the whole point is to enjoy the journey and allow my palate and understanding to develop.
For the most part, though, I’m not going deep on any one producer or style in this regard…just slowly buying and trying hopefully representative examples of respected styles/regions from around the world at a time when they can show their character. Much of the wine will take years to be at a point where I will want to open it, but I’m in no hurry.
The notion that cellaring a lot of wine that I have no personal experience with is somehow a bad idea makes no sense to me; I can’t think of any better way to integrate wine into my lifestyle, where wine is a fascinating and pleasurable enhancement to my family and social life rather than its central focus.
Along the way I have found winemakers, wineries, vineyards, regions that I really enjoy. For some of these, I have enough experience where I am comfortable buying more deeply on faith. I had 3 vintages of Sandlands Chenin before I opened one and though it was not ready in my view, I have drunk enough recent Turley, Sadie and other associated stuff to feel like Tegan’s journey is one I will benefit from trailing over a number of years. When Sandlands (or Forlorn Hope, etc) are releasing 6-10 different bottlings a year and availability is limited (not to mention funds for the hobby) , I’d have to drink everything they deliver each release to be able to say I was re-buying based on direct knowledge and that would mean going through a lot of very young wines and foregoing the chance to see how they look after some time. So for these types of wineries (where I think David is mainly interested) I will pick a few that look like early drinkers, open them, and if they are to my liking I may re-up across the board in following releases even if it means getting a few vintages deep on some of their bottlings before opening one.
I also have to give props to the folks (David included) who always seem to open a few bottles and post notes on the eve of the following release of some of these less well covered wineries. That is always helpful in gauging where things are. Cheers!
Joe,
It is clear I did not express my question very well. I am in fact focused on the new wineries, and the question was prompted by someone in a thread on one of those new wineries stating they were going to hold all of their bottles. This from a producer that has stated that many of his wines are meant for early consumption. There are wineries that none of us have a wealth of experience with, so getting that personal data point makes a ton of sense to me. Clearly that is not true for many in the community.
Maybe it’s time for a poll “what is the greatest number of bottles in your cellar from a producer you have never tasted”
One of the CT jocks might even be able to produce a search query for this
My high score is 4 (LdH).
I generally open at least one bottle before the next release comes around. The only winery I can think of where I didn’t do this was No Girls. I bought two vintages blind before tasting. It was a mistake to wait. I sold off the remainder and dropped the list. Lesson learned - even if the wines might be only in their infancy, I can learn something about them. Why did I wait? I thought they’d need a few years to show well and allow me to judge them.
Of course, I have plenty of wine in my collection from producers I’ve never tasted, but those are bought on track record, and not what the OP is inquiring about.
This would be an interesting poll. My high number for this is 19 (Schrader). the main reason I’m waiting on trying them so far is twofold: (1) I’m not a fan of young Cabernet, and (2) I know I can get my money back later down the line if I don’t like them. That said, I have recently been telling myself that I really do need to try one or two of 'em. I feel that Schrader qualifies for David’s question.
Joe
Yes I find myself in a very similar mindset to you. Indeed there can be a strong case that evaluation of a single bottle, over the course of a couple of hours, with food at some point in that process, is much much better than the walkaround scrum tastings (or similar 20 secs per glass regime of certain wine critics).
regards
Ian
I hit 26 Sandlands before opening the first one. I have 27 Patty Green and yet to open one but 24 are Berserkers cuvee so not sure that fits the OP. Generally, once I will try to open one by the time I hit two cases.
For me, it is 7 bottles - Gabriel Billard. I have not taste them because they are 2005 Burgs and not ready. Same with #2 - at 4 bottles, d’Arduhay. Bought them because of price and vintage. To be fair to the OP, have not bought more recent wines because I don’t want to stock up too much on wines I have not tasted.
For me 2 bottles is the current max I have of a wine I’ve not tasted.
6x4. Italy 2010s.
14 - Patricia Green Cellars. A special case… and then a couple more bottles.